The Exchange Project
by Staygoodness
Summary: In an AU, Katniss is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks. As part of a plan to help unite different social divides, Katniss is thrown on to an exchange program, paired up with a rich kid. She expects to see a vacuous vain life but instead finds something, or someone, so kind, so pure, so... good.
1. Chapter 1

As she stared at his face, his carefree smile and the crinkles around his eyes, she thought of kissing him.

Katniss' heart skipped, but she tilted her head, confused. Here she was, in this unfamiliar place, with people she barely knew, and this messy haired boy had invaded her head. She wasn't normally this weak.

However, Katniss was exhausted. It was the third day of this stupid exchange and her Capitol counterpart was driving her insane. She had not been able to speak her mind for days, and for a girl like Katniss this was torture. It didn't help that the Capitol girl, Rubia, had done nothing but talk to her since she arrived, her holder brother was a sleaze and every other Capitol person she had met treated her like she was deaf, dumb and blind.

But this boy, this boy looked so... _good._

It was only fleeting; her thought of kissing him, but it confused her. It must be her desperate mind, reaching out for some connection with someone. That was all that could explain the tugging at the bottom of her ribcage. Katniss' exchange grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the clustered circle of friends, back to the Capitol flat for the night. Fair enough, it had been a long day. Katniss and the other Seam kids taking part on this 'culture exchange' had been trailed around the Capitol's most famous sights. Despite the splendor, Katniss was missing home.

"Oh Katniss!" Bravo, Rubia's brother, reached out to grab her and kiss her on both cheeks, as apparently was custom in the Capitol. It seemed to Katniss that Bravo was taking extra advantage of this, as while the rest of the family nodded at her when she walked back into the flat with Rubia, Bravo was descending on her. She quickly ducked out of the way, mumbling a greeting and following Rubia to their shared room. As Rubia huffily sat down on her queen sized bed, Katniss decided that, hey, she was stuck here, might as well talk about something she was interested in.

"Who was that blonde boy when we left?" Katniss asked, locking eyes with Rubia, who was twirling her hair around one lazy finger.

"Oh, Peeta? I don't really know him, I don't think he's much fun. Bit square I would say," Rubia announced in that stupid accent of hers, "But I have fine art class with him, he's simply fantastic. He comes from a family of cupcake bakers, absolutely _daaaarling_."

"Who was he paired up with from my school?" Katniss enquired, genuinely curious about this Peeta boy. She wasn't sure why she was interested in him at all really, but it was the only thing she could talk about with her exchange.

"The tall one, Gale" Rubia preened.


	2. Chapter 2

Evening! Ni here, its the very long awaited second chapter! Unfortunately I have exams for two months so don't hold your breath for the third. Its another little setting up chapter. In this chapter there is a lot of focus on Gale, so I just want to make it clear that this is a Peeta-Katniss story but there is a lot of sympathy towards our boy Gale. The Capitol in this story is like a watered down version of the book Capitol, no crazy body-mods but still a very removed, elitist society. Thank you if you bother to read this, I spent a lot of time on it. I'm not naturally very good at long chapters so please bear with me as I try and work towards longer passages. Tips are welcome! Thanks again, Ni x.

Peeta carried on walking up the hill, forcing himself to be oblivious to his exchanges' grumbles. The blond boy was a couple of steps ahead of the tall dark one, who was sulking back. Only two days into the exchange so far, Peeta was sure that maybe by the end Gale would at least be civil with him. He shrugged to himself, still keeping content with the situation. It was a short walk along a pretty, clear road to Peeta's house, which stood near to the north edge of the Capitol. It was a fair distance from the school, however Gale insisted on walking from the first day. Peeta did not have the willpower to argue and so had lead the way back to his home for the past few days.

It was early December, however the Capitol was at a temperature that was practically t-shirt weather for Gale, and unless he wanted to seem soft, Peeta went along with it. The walk also kept Gale in a good mood for when they arrived home, which was a blessing. His father was a quiet, inoffensive man, but his mother was a different matter. Yes, it had been a long train journey from the Seam, one of the main suburbs of the city, and yes, it had been a long day in the bakery, but Peeta was sure that even with the smallest of offenses, there would be another shouting match from Gale and Peeta's mother. So yes, the walks were worth it.

Each button made a small beep as Peeta keyed in the code to open the front door. He pushed the door open and stepped onto the marble floor. He turned to look over his shoulder as Gale too stepped over the threshold.

"My parents aren't back yet, so I guess we should go up to my room" Peeta stated. Gale shrugged in reply, not feeling the need to add anything more.

Peeta's room was on the first floor, the first door you came to. His brothers, Carlo and Rye, were further along the corridor and came out the greet the two as the walked up the stairs.

Carlo was the eldest at 19 years old. Like Peeta he was kind and thoughtful but a little bit more up for fun as you got to know him better. Rye was more immediate, fond of pranks and more mischievous despite being 17. Peeta was the baby of the family at 16. There were traits that spread through them, like the blond hair, Carlo's curly, Rye's straight and Peeta's just a little messy. They were also all mature when the situation called for it. Kind and caring, but all different in the ways they expressed it, Peeta being the most obvious.

Peeta stepped onto the landing and smiled at his brother, Gale nodded at them. They went into Peeta's room. The walls were painted a light orange-tinted yellow, the compromise Peeta had reached with his mother after he asked for sunset orange walls. Gale strode over to Peeta's bed and placed himself on the blue covers. Peeta sat on the chair to the left of the bed and flicked his eyes towards the still boy on his bed.

"So... " Peeta started gently, "What do you want to do?"

They had spent the last couple of evenings in solitary silence, Gale occasionally allowing a book to be tossed at him. Peeta was an avid reader, it was his solitary escape when the paint was short. A picture with vivid words rather than bright colours was better than no picture at all. Peeta stood and walked over to his bookcase and crouched, balancing on the balls of his feet. he lifted his hand and his calloused fingers withdrew his favourite book. He stood again and paused, opening his mouth.

"So, I know you might be tired but a couple of people from school are going out tonight to go ice -skating. You don't have to come but there are people you know going as well. Do you want to go?"

Gale paused, looking searchingly at Peeta as if analysing a situation in the wild, before nodding in assent. That was settled then, a lovely trip to the ice park. Peeta settled back into his chair and opened the book as Gale impenetrably watched on.

When the time came to leave the house, not much else had happened. Carlo and Rye were also coming along, of course after the mother had angrily thrown woollen gloves and hats at them and accused them of wasting time and money on a pointless activity. Gale had refused to wear a hat but had picked up some black fingerless gloves which outlined his skilled, capable fingers and the shadows in his eyes. Peeta hung a scarf loosely around his neck, and opened the door to allow the innocent musk of evening light into the room.

…

Rubia marches in front of me with her long frontier of friends, bending over giggling with plastic smiles etched on to their cruel faces. We rushed to leave the house as she stole one of her mother's handbags and rubbed red lipstick on to her face. Looking at her as we left set my hunting senses off because she reeked of desperation. I had barely had time to sit down during the day, I thought going back to the house would be a relief. I was wrong.

No rest for the wicked.

Hopefully I would have a familiar face with me, judging by the way Rubia was strutting it wouldn't be long until we were joined by the boys. Although I am by no means sentimental, I couldn't wait to see Gale. He is like my eyes and ears and I'm so tired that it's becoming difficult to cope on my own in my hyper-aware state. Maintaining even a facade of anything other than roughness was challenging anyway, but in her house I was constantly under the microscope. Her dick of a brother even got his friends over to laugh at me. Even thinking about how caged I feel there makes me want to rip my own skin off. There were only a couple of days left though, and hopefully the surroundings I find myself in would get less intense.

Then, I see Gale in the distance, followed by a smaller blond boy. Ah, the boy from earlier. As they approach, the tensing in Gale's shoulders tells me that he isn't comfortable either, a small flicker in his eyes makes it clear that he is uneasy with the new people he will now spend the evening with. I walk steadily towards him and one shoulder drops slightly.

The blond boy trots on ahead towards Rubia and her friends, and I am grateful for the chance to check up on Gale alone. I am also able to watch this boy from behind, taking more of him in.

Keepin my eyes on the back of the blond's head, I angle my face up to Gale's.

"How are you doing?" I start, aware that Gale will not be willing to talk freely within earshot of these Capitolites.

When we are out in the meadow, that is the only time he will truly let his thoughts run free, frequently getting lost in them. I have heard tumbles and tumbles of rambling speech come out, on better days about the thrill of the hunt and the adventures that lie ahead, on the worse ones the fear he feels for his family, the anger at the ruling classes and the unbreakable determination he shows to change something. All of this is carefully controlled in any place else, with anyone else. Many make the mistake of thinking that Gale is silent, no, he is louder than anyone, he just won't let you hear him.

Gale turns and looks at me dead in the eyes. He has a lot to say, clearly a lot has been observed, but I will have to wait for it. I hold his gaze for a second, extracting anything more I can out of it and then a shimmer catches my I turn my head and my eyes are drawn up and up by this spiraling mass of glass-like ice. It is terrifying, but incredible. I understand briefly why anyone would put themselves through cold that could take your life to dance through its halls. Inside, many figures are clear and blurred through sheets of ice that only just curtain it's many halls. It is about as big as the mayor's building back home, but twice as splendid. It is about three separate halls abreast and each surface sparkles. Small decorative turrets cascade the front side and the large door could fit a giant. It is unbelievable.

The group files into a kiosk to get the ice skates, which feel like dead weights on my feet. I take small steps, Gale just behind me, as we head towards the entryway. Breaths of cold flush my face and make my eyes water. Rubia speeds up towards the entrance and then in a quick transition from earth to ice, skates in. I look at Gale, who walks up and takes my hand.

"I hear this makes it easier" he whispers and slowly we take a step into the palace.


End file.
